8/12/2019 History _ Goud Saraswat Brahmin

1/2

Home

History

Devasthan

Panchamis

Pujas

Festivals

Album-old

Kavlem Muth

Accomodation

Others

Read me

Mahajans List

Album-*New*

Committee

:: Panchami Calendar

2014-15 ::

:: Photo Album - Magh

Utsav 2014 ::

ory : Goud Saraswat Brahmin http://shreeshantadurga.com/history_gsb.asp

2 6/2/2014 7:49 AM

8/12/2019 History _ Goud Saraswat Brahmin

2/2

Theories about the original home of Goud Saraswat Brahmin [G.S.B.] are a

legion. That the word Saraswat is derived from Saraswati, name of an ancient

river is, however, more or less certain. The river sprang from Himalayas and a

number of references to it are found in igveda and later Hindu religious

literatures li!e "ahabharata and Smrities. Several prayers in igveda are

addressed to the river Saraswati, inter alia, invo!ing her grace and beseeching

her not to compel the inhabitants who had made the ban!s of the river their

abode to leave her fair ban!s to migrate to other territories. However, there was

a blac! famine in the region for twelve years due to which the Brahmin families

were forced to migrate to other regions li!e Bengal, Bihar and Southern #ndia. #tis believed that the saraswat community which settled in Bengal, then !nown as

Goud, derived the name Goud Saraswat Brahmins.

$s for the community%s reaching Goa, it is said that in Tetrayug, there was a

Saraswat Brahmin named &amdagni who was a great $scetic 'ishi(. He had a

cow, !nown as a )amdhenu because she was endowed with the power of fulfilling

every wish. *nce Sahastrar+un a )ing from )shatriya 'warrior( community had

gone to the forest for hunting, he found &amadagni ishi%s ashram and went

there for resting. hen he saw the cow, )amdhenu, he e-pressed a desire to

possess it. The ishi, however, declined to part with it. The !ing in his arrogance,

!illed the ishi and also badly in+ured his wife, enu!a and too! away the cow.

$t that time the ishi%s son, arshuram, had gone away in the deep forest for

performing /agnya. There he came to !now of the terrible news. He rushed bac!

to the ashram and in his fury too! a vow that he would annihilate all !shatriyasfrom this earth. He fought fierce wars and ultimately completed his vow.

Thereafter he gifted the entire earth con0uered by him to Brahmins. He then felt

that it was not proper to live on the land gifted away by him. He, therefore, went

to the west of the Sahyadri mountain range and created a new region called

%Shurpara!ha% for himself by pushing bac! the western sea. Today a small area in

the north )on!an is called Surpara!a 'Sopare(. #n the Sahyadri!hand where

there is a description about the idols installed by ishi arshuram in )on!an,

)uthhal has been referred to as %Shurpar! )ushasthalli%.

Before settling in the new place, ishi arshuram performed a big /agnya for

which he brought from the Goud region 11 families of G.S.B. belonging to ten

Gotras 'linear ancestry( vi2. Bhardwa+, )oushi!, 3atshya, )oundinya, )ashyap,

3asishtha, &amdagni, 3ishwamitra, Gautam and $tri who were worshipping the

patron deities "angirish, "ahadev, "ahala!shmi, "halasa, Shantadurga, 4ageshand Sapt!otishwar. These families brought along with them idols of their patron

deities. $fter the /agnya was successfully completed, ishi arshuram presented

some of the villages to these Brahmin families to enable them to settle there.

The GSB families installed their family deities which they had brought with them

in their own homes.

The place where these families first made home was called Saswad "ahal. *ver

the years with the growth of the community, the worship of the family deities

assumed a social significance and temples were built for these deities as well as

for the Gramdevata i.e. the deity which loo!s after the welfare of the village,

where they were worshiped by the community. $ brahmin, 5omsharma from

)aushi!a Gotra., got the village )ardalipur ')eloshi( as a gift. He installed his

family%s patron deity Goddess Shree Shantadurga devi in that village. The

brahmins 6evasharma and Shivsharma from the 3atsya and )aundinya gotra,respectively got the village )ushasthali ' presently !nown as )udthali or )uddal(

where they installed their patron deity Shree "angesh 'also !nown as Shree

"angirish(.

The brahmins who installed these deities, i.e. 5omsharma, 6evsharma and

Shivsharma are !nown as the "ul urusha 'linear ancestor( of the )aushi!a,

3atsya and )aundinya Gotra respectively.

ory : Goud Saraswat Brahmin http://shreeshantadurga.com/history_gsb.asp

2 6/2/2014 7:49 AM